Track structure



2 Sheets-5h66?. l

Sept. 20, 1932. w. G. HULBERT TRACK STRUCTURE Filed Jan. 27, 1932 Sept. 20, 1932.' w G, HULBERT 1,878,984

TRACK STRUCTURE Filed Jan. 27, 1932 2 Sheets-Sher 2 wm M6/zi j Patented Sept. 20, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT i OFFICE Y WILLIAM Gr. EULBERT, OF EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM WHARTON,

JR. & COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF'EASTON, IENENNSYYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF ",j

PENNSYLVANIA TRACK STRUCTURE Application sied January 2?, 1932. serialiY No. 589,260.

It is oldpractice with street railways to employ special work such as frog and crossing structures, including cast iron bodies f which support hard metal centers. Generally 5 speaking up until recently this practice has been uniformly satisfactory, but the ever increasing traffic of heavy trucks and buses has changed conditions and there now is much complaint that the rails work loose and that the cast iron bodies break. 'Ihe problem could be solved by employing solidmanganese steel frogs or crossing structures, as in steam trackwork, but that would be too expensive and so the desideratum is to provide a rigid and strong construction that will stand up under modern conditions of heavy traffic and to do this in such way as will not appreciably enlarge the cost of the old work.

In achieving this object I integrally join intersecting continuous rails by removing the heads and enough of the proximate base flanges in the area of intersection to provide for securing them at the desired angle of intersection and then house the cut down rails in a frog or crossing structure consisting of a unit shell U-shape in cross section or of the general form of an arch whereof the roof has intersecting flangeways matching the y flangeways of the rails and whereof the side walls straddle the rails and are welded to the base flanges thereof, the ends of the shellV being welded to the rails.

The nature, characteristic features and i scope of the invention more readily will be understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of special track- Y Q work embodying the invention.

housing constituting the frog or crossing.

' structure. t 50 In pursuance of my method of providing rigid and strong'intersecting trackwork par ticularly adapted for street railways subject to heavytrafpc, I fashion thepintersecting through or continuous rails 5 and 6 so'that they can be assembled at the desired angle of intersection, for.w instance, by removing the heads, as at 7 ,p in the areaof intersection, and'by'removing enough ofy their proximate base flanges 8.` The rails then are secured as by bolts 9 passing through their webs 10 and spacing blocks 11,anol by metallically uniting them as by weld deposit 12 in the straight groove provided bythe cutaway base flanges and by deposit metall between the abutting ends of the outside flanges 14. Endwise of the intersecting area and'between the rails are hollow metal paving blocks 15 contoured to fit the space.V Their tops 16 are 'substantially iiush with the heads ofthe rails andtheir side wallsf17 rest uponproxi mate base'flan'ges of the rails and having aper tures to accommodate through bolts ,18 whereby they are lproperly secured in place. Elements 15 form closures forthecrotch area and simplify paving.'V Y

*l The intersecting through rails as thus assembled and metallically bound together are ready for the Yapplication of the Amanganese steelV or other hard metal'y center structure for normalizing the cut down area of intersection. Itis a distinct'merit of my invention that the housing is a unitishellstructurewof inverted U or arch form. `It is generally indicated by thenumeral 19` and, as well apparent fromV Figs. 5f and 6, embodies a roofor spanning area 20V and side wallsQl having spiking flanges 22.' The top' of the vstructure is formed with a trackfsurface'or withginter` f secting iiangeways which match the Hangeways ofthe continuousrails. The shell vor housing 19'islpreferably composed of manganese steclor substantiallyV equivalent metal having hard toughness ,andy generally is formed by casting. The general form ofthev spanning structure and the fact that its side i walls have a depth corresponding to the normal height ofthe rails, makes for ample head room or clearance between thetrimmed .rails and the roof of the shell and admits of permissible deection of the structure. underv the load which latter, obviously, is assumed entirely by the spanning structure and transmitted by it through its side arms to the foundation structure.

As shown in Fig. 5 the shell or housing center 19, when in position in the area of intersection, spans the webs of the intersecting through rails and with its side members forms grooves 23 with cut away portions of .the rail flanges 24 for weld deposit metal 25 whereby the housing is metallicallyfjoined The metallic union of the housing with the rails is completed by welddeposit metal 26 between the ends thereof and the heads 27 of the rails, the spaced ends beingformed as a V groove for the reception of the fusion metal. A

to the int-ersecting rails. v

It will be obvious to those skilled inthe art-V that by my system or method If'provide a ,strong and rigid structure thatis adequately capable'of taking care of hleavy'trahc conditions.

Having describedthe inv-ention,l'l cla-im: 1 l. Thev method herein described, which consists in-tr'imming continuous or through rails whereby they may be assembled on lines of intersection, rigidly securing them in that relation, housing the trimmed area with a wear resisting unit cast shell whose top is formed with flangewaysk which match the flangeways of the rails and whose sidesy straddle the rails and are of a depth corre'V sponding to the normal height of thev rails, welding the end terminals of the shell to thc through rails by continuous or unbroken weld deposit metal, and'welding the bottoms of its sidemembers to the adjoining rail flanges by weld deposit metal extending the effective length of the side members` Y 2. VThe method herein described, which consists in trimming continuous or through rails whereby they may be assembled on lines of. intersection, tying themin that relation, normalizing the area of intersection by spanning it with a frog or crossing structure comv;

prising a one-piece casting of inverted, U-

form including a head having guards and iiangeways matching those of the through rails and having side walls with .spiking flanges, and .homogenizing the'assembly by welding the head to the through rails by continuous weld deposit metal which integrates the rails and also the rails and the head, andwelding the side walls in the plane of their spiking flanges to the proximate ybase flanges of the rails. Y Y

3. The method herein described, which consists in modifying continuous or through rails whereby they may be assembled on lines of intersection, rigidly joining them by fusion welding which metallically joins the proximate base flanges and also lthe proXimate ends of the rails, and normalizing thev rails'in the region; of intersection by applying a straddling frog or crossing structure whose top is fusion welded to the ends of the section and comprising a one-piece shellof Y arch form whereof the head has flangeways and gua-rds in coincidence with those of-the through rails and whereof the side walls are of a depth for common support with the rails and have spiking flanges, weld deposit metal connecting the head with the through rails, andfweld deposit metal connecting the side walls with the proximate/base flanges ofthe rails. i. Y v

In'testimony whereof, Ilaflix my signature. c

Y wrLLrAM f e. HULBRT. 

